Featured News and Press Coverage

Some Recent Happenings at LearningTimes

The Health, Emotion and Behavior Laboratory at Yale University is using the innovative BadgeStack learning and community platform to expand The RULER Approach emotional literacy curricula to include an online teacher certification process.

Using the innovative BadgeStack learning platform, Muhlenberg College enhanced their HYPE Program this year to include badges to recognize participants’ accomplishments. Since 2006 HYPE, which stands for Healthy Youth Peer Education, has developed leadership and community advocacy skills in local high school students through documentary filmmaking.

Using BadgeStack, Longwood University in Farmville, Va., is offering a post-secondary readiness MOOC program for high-school students this year. The noncredit course, called “5 Skills You Need to Succeed: What Employers Want You to Know,” teaches communication and presentation skills, critical thinking, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, and how to successfully navigate the work world.

LearningTimes announced that the successful DIG/IT initiative offered in New York City public high schools has been expanded to provide badge-based learning to more than 4,000 students in the 2012-2013 school year.

Since its launch in April, nearly 3,000 students have signed up for the Smithsonian Quests program and have begun to participate in game-based learning activities to earn up to seven badges, such as 'Dirt Detective' and 'Enviro-Scientist.'”

New v2.0 features enhance student engagement and add increased flexibility for instructional designers and community managers issuing digital badges or microcredentials. A new and powerful automatic thresholds engine goes well beyond any existing learning achievement system.

The Shout Environmental Exploration Program, a resource from the Smithsonian for teaching about the environment, is returning for its second year. Designed to expand current instruction, the program will offer a variety of tools that teachers can use when teaching about the environment.

The Smithsonian is offering teachers a multidimensional resource for expanding and enriching curriculum with Shout, a free environmental exploration program. Through interactive webinars, comprehensive lesson-planning materials and hands-on activities, Shout features renowned Smithsonian scientists and other experts in the arts and humanities.

LearningTimes, LLC, announced that its new BadgeStack™ badge-based learning system is now Mozilla Open Badge Infrastructure (OBI) compliant. BadgeStack is the first and only standards-based system designed specifically for badge-empowered, formal and informal learning.

Announcing the first and only standards-based system designed specifically for badge-empowered, formal and informal learning. The system rewards and recognizes skill and knowledge acquisition as well as social and professional engagement within a learning community.

Museum professionals help shape the future of mobile interpretation in the third annual Museums & Mobile Survey, a collaborative enquiry into the international museum community’s evolving perspectives, use and ambitions for mobile technology tools.

The National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds is ready for the public to weigh in and vote for the “People’s Choice” favorites from among the six winning ideas selected by an independent jury last July.

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Pentagon Memorial Fund, and Flight 93 National Memorial offer a free online conference for designed to provide K-12 educators with resources and strategies for addressing the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Handheld Librarian V Online Conference (HHLV) announced this year's conference will feature a Virtual Expo Hall and will showcase vendors in virtual booths who support librarians as they navigate the new world of digital publishing.

The Museums & Mobile Survey is an ongoing international research initiative that tracks the museum community’s use of and ambitions for mobile technology tools. This year’s survey received an amazing response: 738 to be precise.

Due to the sellout of its upcoming Ed Tech Business Forum, the Education Division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) today announced plans to broadcast the event live through its partnership with LearningTimes.

There is still time to get involved in the National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds (WAMO). Every generation leaves its mark on the National Mall in Washington, DC. WAMO encourages people of all ages and experience levels to submit creative ideas for making the area around the Monument more welcoming, educational, and effectively used by the public.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary
source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries
and 17,500 museums, presents a webinar series based on the national initiative "Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action".

Jonathan Finkelstein of LearningTimes joins Susan Manning and Dan Balzer, co-hosts of the LT GreenRoom podcast, to talk
about two creative and important enhancements to the synchronous world of learning online.

The 2011 International Museums & Mobile Survey is now open. Building on the success of last year’s survey – which received responses from well over 200 museum institutions from some 20 countries across the globe – this survey continues our exploration of the museum community’s use and ambitions with mobile technology tools.

The Illinois Library Association will hold its first-ever virtual conference. The program, produced by LearningTimes, will feature highlights from the 2010 ILA Annual Conference, with a focus on partnerships and planning.

LearningTimes produces the Jossey-Bass Department Chair Online Institute and enhances sessions with a unique LearningTimes service called Virtual Graphic Facilitation (VGF). The VGF illustration from the first sessions, "The Most Important Things You Need to Know (and Do) as a Department Chair" is available for viewing.

Dana Allen-Greil of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History joins Jonathan Finkelstein of LearningTimes for a discussion of the award-winning O Say Can You Sing? National Anthem Singing Contest. The podcast was produced by LearningTimes in association with the American Association of Museums Media and Technology Committee.

Four presenters showed off their extemporaneous speaking skills today during the Handheld Librarian Online Conference III as part of the first "Battledecks" competition to have ever been held completely live online.

LearningTimes sponsors the National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds. LearningTimes will also be producing an online symposium to help encourage Americans of all ages to develop innovative and creative ideas for making the Washington Monument grounds more welcoming, educational and effectively used by the public.

Join us for the third online conference in a highly popular series on the use of mobile technology in libraries. More people than ever are using mobile devices for a wide variety of purposes including communication, internet access, text messaging, and entertainment. It is important that libraries provide mobile services as handheld use increases.

Kate Theimer, ArchivesNext blogger and author of Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collection, shares insights about online events for museums and local history organizations, citing the work done in the field by LearningTimes.

The American Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Virtual Conference enhances the conference experience for attendees onsite in Philadelphia and provides an important professional development opportunity to those unable to travel to the conference site. Produced by LearningTimes, the ACRL 2011 Virtual Conference will feature webcasts, dynamic screen capture recordings, speaker handouts, blogs, discussion forums, and more.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced that Tufts University was a recipient of a prestigious 2010 Circle of Excellence Award. The honor was bestowed for the Tufts University Online Seminars, a series of webinars produced by LearningTimes.

The American Library Association (ALA) presents a Virtual Conference produced by LearningTimes, featuring a full series of 11 interactive Web sessions. Each day will start with a keynote speaker, include various sessions, plus an optional author lunch.

The OSICC 2010 program offers focused leadership development training to benefit faculty, administrators, and department chairs. This event is also valuable for educators just stepping into leadership roles.

TIE 2010 is a multi-day, multi-session online conference that provides an interactive forum for museum professionals at all levels to explore current technology trends and practices in museum education, interpretation, exhibition, public programs, and outreach.

Following a successful broadcast of the Online Ed Tech Business Forum in December 2009, SIIA confirmed it will partner again with LearningTimes to present portions of the Ed Tech Industry Summit online in order to highlight trends in mobile and global learning, announce the 2010 CODiE Awards, and celebrate the organization’s much anticipated 25th anniversary.

This webinar series produced for Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) by LearningTimes will introduce Foundations in Digital Design, a yearlong course that introduces key specializations in the arts, media, and entertainment industry: audio, video, animation, and gaming.

The AAM Annual Meeting Virtual Conference 2010, produced in collaboration with LearningTimes, is a two-day online conference showcasing nine sessions selected by AAM’s Standing Professional Committees that have the broadest appeal and greatest relevance to their constituencies.

This year, for the first time, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum will host an online conference with the 2010 Trophy winners, allowing the general public, teachers and students to interact with award recipients and Smithsonian experts. This year's winners include the flight crew of US Airways Flight 1549 and Christopher C. Kraft Jr., NASA’s first flight director for human spaceflight.

Please join us for the 15th Annual Technology, Colleges and Community Worldwide Online Conference. TCC features dozens of live interactive webcasts, and unique opportunities for collaboration and networking.

Smithsonian historians, scientists, researchers and other experts share their questions, their methods, and their unique way of thinking in an interactive format that welcomes you to contribute your own ideas. The "Smithsonian Online Conference: Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts" is series of interactive live online events will be of special interest to educators, entire classrooms of engaged students, and to the general public.

Alliance Library System and LearningTimes Offer Online Conference on Innovation for Libraries in the 21st Century. The conference features dynamic and exciting keynote addresses by Rich Harwood of the Harwood Institute; Helene Blowers of the Columbus Metropolitan Library; and Kitty Pope and Kendal Orrison of Alliance Library System.

In this blog entry, Nancy White reflects on her keynote session at the 8th Annual International Online Conference for Teaching and Learning, during which "the cracker jack LearningTimes team" featured Virtual Graphic Facilitation (VGF).

The Public Library Association (PLA) presents a Virtual Conference produced by LearningTimes for those who cannot attend the PLAY 2010 National Conference in person in Portland. Programs are chosen from among the highest rated in PLA's session preference survey. Each day also will include a lunchtime author interview and a closing session 'happy hour' event.

In this episode of the LearningTimes Green Room, Dan Balzer and guest co-host Jonathan Finkelstein of LearningTimes, interview Susan Manning and Kevin Johnson, co-authors of the new book Online Education for Dummies. Susan Manning, Ed.D. is a producer with the LearningTimes team.

The 8th Annual International Online Conference for Teaching and Learning features over 75 presentations including 25 live interactive sessions. Keyntoes include Nancy White, Marc Brackett and Anita Crawley.

More people than 2000 people attended the first ever Handheld Librarian Conference, which featured a wide array of collaboration, learning and networking activities focused on Mobile Library Services. The Handheld Librarian 2 will continue the dialog with a brand new 2-day online conference line-up.

Towards a New Mainstream? was a well-attended face-to-face and interactive webcast lecture by Gregory Rodriguez that explored demographic change in the Americas, cultural transformation and the future of museums. In this post-event blog, one participant shares the experience. It was produced by the AAM Center for the Future of Museums in association with sponsor LearningTimes.

Califa, in partnership with InfoPeople, is pleased to be presenting The Edgy Librarian, an online web conference featuring many of the new technologies being used in libraries, and show-and-tell sessions from libraries using those new services. The event is produced by LearningTimes.

In their review of Learning in Real Time (Jossey-Bass), the best selling book on synchronous learning and teaching by LearningTimes executive producer Jonathan Finkelstein, eLearn Magazine states the the book "will stimulate your creative juices, and then guide you through the logistics of making your ideas a reality".

The results of the 2009 Museum Handheld Survey are now available online. Why do or don’t museums use handheld guides? How do museums perceive the medium’s future? What are the biggest challenges? And how can we improve knowledge sharing in this field?

Towards a New Mainstream?, a scintillating lecture by Gregory Rodriguez, op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times, explored demographic change in the Americas, cultural transformation and the future of museums. The lecture and webcast were sponsored by LearningTimes.

The Education Division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) today announced that it plans to broadcast the upcoming Ed Tech Business Forum live via Webcast through a partnership with LearningTimes.

Forty years ago the Apollo Space Program met President Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the moon, one of the most significant achievements of the 20th Century. Join experts from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for the Apollo Space Program Virtual Conference.

The Smithsonian is addressing the global challenge of climate change with special exhibitions and ongoing research. You can participate in these investigations and deepen your understanding through the Smithsonian Online Education Conference: Climate Change.

AASL produces "bthere Virtual Track Pass" to extend the AASL annual national conference experience to all school librarians, not just those able to participate in person. The virtual conference will provide a parallel experience to conference attendees, including: eight webinars, an online Research Symposium, a daily conference update, and bloggers and forums sharing discussions from the sessions and colleagues in the halls of the Convention Center.

To address the need of tighter budgets and limited travel, you are invited to participate in the first-ever Online AASLH Conference. Sessions have been hand-picked by the AASLH Annual Meeting Program Committee and are considered to be among some of the best at the 2009 AASLH Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.

The 21st Century Information Literacy Project's "Keyword Blog" reports that the LearningTimes Green Room is "one of the very best produced ed-tech podcasts". They continue: "Professional production values, fascinating topics, and professional production standards. Stay on the cutting edge of web 2.0 by listening to Susan Manning and Dan Balzer."

PublicDecisions, the Online Academy For Stakeholder Engagement, conducts an online mini-conference on stakeholder engagement in SecondLife. The event is produced by LearningTimes, and co-sponsored by New York Law School, National Issues Forums, Public Agenda, Involve, and The World Café.

Community College faculty, staff and administrators are invited to participate in two-days of unique professional development activities. The Online Summer Institute for Community Colleges (OSICC) will be held completely over the Internet and offers brilliant keynote and featured speakers, and many opportunities for collaboration and networking.

eSchool News article describes Secretary G. Wayne Clough's education technology plans for the Smithsonian, which include a series of ongoing online conferences produced by LearningTimes. This first online conference will focus on the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln.

The Smithsonian and LearningTimes, LLC have joined together to launch the first in a series of free online education conferences. Through live presentations, moderated forums, and demonstrations of resource materials, Smithsonian curators will lead participants in explorations of Smithsonian research and collections.

Alliance Library System and LearningTimes are pleased to announce an exciting conference featuring science and virtual worlds. On January 30th we are "Stepping Into Science" and taking the day to explore the possibilities of using virtual worlds to learn about and teach science.

New York City Department of Education and LearningTimes Produce Online Conference on Educating Children with Disruptive Behavior. This special online conference was developed with NYCDOE District 75 for professionals working with students who are severely emotionally challenged, multiply disabled, and/or on the autism spectrum.

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Since 1998, the LearningTimes team has been helping clients locally in New York City, nationally and around the world to bring people together through engaging online conferences, events and activities.